WWE Reportedly Scraps Controversial Storyline After Internal Backlash

WWE has scrapped plans to recreate a legendary Attitude Era stable amid reports of internal backlash to the potential reincarnated faction.

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t SEScoops), WWE Hall of Famer’s Mark Henry seemingly random backstage appearance on this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw was originally intended to lead to a modern day version of The Nation of Domination: ““The deal with Mark Henry was – Mark Henry and Ron Simmons were brought in for these tapings for the Nation of Domination angle that they scrapped. So I guess they just figured since Mark Henry is there, they just put him on TV for no reason.”

Plans to recreate the famed Nation of Domination, which helped launch the careers of stars like Henry and The Rock, were—as noted by Meltzer—”scrapped” after being delayed the previous week. Last week, Meltzer (h/t Cageside Seats) reported that WWE had intended on kicking off that storyline on Raw before plans were changed: “On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer indicated there was originally a plan for Ron Simmons to make a new Nation of Domination on Raw this week. That changed for this week, but apparently it could still happen.”

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The decision to drop the rebooted Nation of Domination stable was one of many last-minute changes made by Vince McMahon and the creative team during last week’s set of TV tapings, with plans for several major angles—including the WWE Championship feud between Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre and the Raw Women’s title rivalry of Asuka vs. Sasha Banks—among the most notable storylines that underwent significant changes at the final hour. While those two feuds ultimately continued, WWE has apparently chosen to end the reincarnated version of The Nation of Domination altogether before it truly began, but there is apparently more to that decision than a simple change in plans.

Meltzer (h/t WrestlingNews.co) also reported last week that “there have been people in the company who have expressed concern about doing this angle because it would be incredibly tone deaf considering what is going on in the country right now. There are a lot of people who want the angle nixed.” Those people appear to have gotten their wish.

A notable faction during WWE’s famed Attitude Era of the mid-to-late 1990s, The Nation of Domination predominantly featured Black wrestlers, including the likes of D’Lo Brown, Ahmed Johnson, Farooq (a.k.a. Ron Simmons), Henry and The Rock, who were advocating for better positioning within the company. Though there were exceptions to that rule, with names like Owen Hart also joining the group, there has been a negative reaction among those within WWE to the potential recreation of the Nation of Domination amid the Black Lives Matter social justice movement.

WWE has not moved forward with a full-blown Nation of Domination reboot, instead going all in on The Hurt Business, a stable consisting of Bobby Lashley, MVP and Shelton Benjamin that initially appeared as if it would serve as the means to move forward to bring back The Nation of Domination. The trio has been feuding with Apollo Crews, who recently expressed interest in reforming the Nation of Domination stable but noted that the faction would have to be pushed as a babyface unit given today’s social climate.

The Hurt Business, which has the makings of a NOD predecessor, has been clearly established as a heel stable, which may have played a role in the internal backlash within WWE regarding possibly going all in on a Nation of Domination reboot that would have added Henry and Simmons to the mix.

For now, it appears that The Hurt Business will be the closest thing WWE fans get to Nation of Domination 2.0, which is the right call given the potential creative disaster that could result from a modern day version of the group being portrayed as villains on TV.